Search results for: gain enhancement

Authors: Mujahid S. Alharbi

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The construction of process plants in oil and gas-producing countries, such as Saudi Arabia, necessitates substantial investment in design and building. Each new plant, while unique, includes common building types, suggesting an opportunity for design standardization. This study investigates the adoption of standardized Issue For Construction (IFC) packages for non-process buildings in Saudi Aramco. A SWOT analysis presents the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of this approach. The approach's benefits are illustrated using the Hawiyah Unayzah Gas Reservoir Storage Program (HUGRSP) as a case study. Standardization not only offers significant cost savings and operational efficiencies but also expedites project timelines, reduces the potential for change orders, and fosters local economic growth by allocating building tasks to local contractors. Standardization also improves project management by easing interface constraints between different contractors and promoting adaptability to future industry changes. This research underscores the standardization of non-process buildings as a powerful strategy for cost optimization, efficiency enhancement, and local economic development in process plant construction within the oil and gas sector.

Keywords: building, construction, management, project, standardization

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Authors: Washima Tuleun

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Cybercrime is a global concern, and Nigeria is not immune to its effects. This paper investigates the cybercrimes and significant cyber-attacks that have targeted businesses and institutions in Nigeria, examining their various forms and the financial and economic impacts they have on individuals, businesses, and the nation as a whole. As technological advancements rapidly evolve and online services gain widespread adoption, there has been a corresponding rise in cyber-related attacks. These attacks often target personal data, exploit system vulnerabilities, and result in the theft of sensitive information, leading to financial losses, reputational damage, and broader impacts on organizations. The study conducts a thorough review of existing literature, case studies, and statistical data to provide a comprehensive understanding of Nigeria’s cybercrime landscape. Additionally, it assesses the efforts by both the government and the private sector to address these challenges and offers recommendations for more effective strategies to mitigate and reduce their impact.

Keywords: cybersecurity, telecommunications engineering, information technology, threat intelligence, vulnerability management, computing

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Authors: Bukhari Badamasi, Chidi G. Ononiwu

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Globally, educational technology (EdTech) has become a known catalyst for gaining access to education, job creation, and national development of a nation. Howbeit, it is common understanding that higher institutions continue to deploy digital technologies, to help provide access to education, but in most case, it is somehow institutional access not epistemological access especially in sub Saharan African higher institutions. Some scholars, however, lament the fact that studies on educational technology affordances are mostly fragmented because they focus on specific theme or sub aspect of access (i.e., institutional access). Thus, drawing from the Archer Morphogenetic approach, and Gibson Affordance theory, and applying critical realist based Danermark model for explanatory research, the study seeks to conduct a realist case study on underprivileged students in Higher institutions on how they gain epistemological access by enacting educational technology (EdTech) affordances.

Keywords: affordance, epistemological access, educational technology, underprivileged students

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Authors: Okoro Ngozi Priscilla

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Education is the bedrock of development in every nation of the world, and it is very useful in ensuring quality of life for every individual and a better world for the people. Education, therefore, is the basic instrument of economic growth and technological advancement in any society. It is in recognition of this fact that the Nigerian government commits immense resources to ensuring that its citizens acquire education and also policies are being made to ensure the accessibility of education, qualitative higher education is highly recognized as a vital driving force for the socio-economic growth and technological development of nations yet the problem of access to University education in the country persists and therefore brought about the introduction of Open and Distance Learning (ODL) which has as its main objective, the attainment of mass literacy and providing opportunities for those who could not gain admission through designated entrance examination agencies as well as those who could not afford to leave their job to attend a full-time educational programme. Open and distance learning seeks to improve skilled manpower and also improve the skills for those already at work.

Keywords: accessibility, open and distant learning programme, fulltime educational programme, distance learning

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Authors: Ali Hajiesmaeili, Mehdi Rahimi, Ehsan Jaberi, Amir Abbas Hosseini

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The purpose of this study is investigating the influences of logistics performance on organizational performance including both marketing & financial aspects, and showing the financial impacts of selecting the right marketing and logistics priorities in line with their supply chain type, and also giving the practitioners an advance identification of their priorities and participation types of supply chain, and the best combination of their strategies and resources in this regard. We made use of the original model’s questionnaire to gather all expert’s data and also SPSS and AMOS Ver.22 to analyze the gathered data. CFA method was also used to test whether a relationship between observed variables and their underlying latent constructs exists. Supply chain strategy implementation leads to logistics performance improvement, and marketing performance will be affected as well. Logistics service providers should focus on enhancement of supply chain performance, since logistics performance has been considered as a basis of evaluation of supply chain management strategy. Consequently, performance of the organization will be enhanced. This case is the first research made in Iran that analyzes the relationship between Logistics & Organizational performance in Home Appliances and Home Entertainment companies.

Keywords: logistics, organizational, performance, supply chain, strategy

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Authors: Neil Morgan

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The notion of Threshold Concepts has offered a fertile new perspective on the transformative effects of mastery of particular concepts on student understanding of subject matter and their developing identities as inductees into disciplinary discourse communities. Only by successfully traversing key knowledge thresholds, it is claimed, can neophytes gain access to the more sophisticated understandings of subject matter possessed by mature members of a discipline. This paper uses thematic analysis of disciplinary guiding principles to identify nine candidate Threshold Concepts that appear to underpin effective TESOL practice. The relationship between these candidate TESOL Threshold Concepts, TESOL principles, and TESOL instructional techniques appears to be amenable to a schematic representation based on superordinate categories of TESOL practitioner concern and, as such, offers an alternative to the view of Threshold Concepts as a privileged subset of disciplinary core concepts. The paper concludes by exploring the potential of a Threshold Concepts framework to productively inform TESOL initial teacher education (ITE) and in-service education and training (INSET).

Keywords: TESOL, threshold concepts, TESOL principles, TESOL ITE/INSET, community of practice

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Authors: Dhanuj M. Gandikota

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Sensor-derived three-dimensional (3D) point clouds of trees are invaluable in remote sensing analysis for the accurate measurement of key structural metrics, bio-inventory values, spatial planning/visualization, and ecological modeling. Machine learning (ML) holds the potential in addressing the restrictive tradeoffs in cost, spatial coverage, resolution, and information gain that exist in current point cloud sensing methods. Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) remains the highest fidelity source of both canopy and below-canopy structural features, but usage is limited in both coverage and cost, requiring manual deployment to map out large, forested areas. While aerial laser scanning (ALS) remains a reliable avenue of LIDAR active remote sensing, ALS is also cost-restrictive in deployment methods. Space-borne photogrammetry from high-resolution satellite constellations is an avenue of passive remote sensing with promising viability in research for the accurate construction of vegetation 3-D point clouds. It provides both the lowest comparative cost and the largest spatial coverage across remote sensing methods. However, both space-borne photogrammetry and ALS demonstrate technical limitations in the capture of valuable below-canopy point cloud data. Looking to minimize these tradeoffs, we explored a class of powerful ML algorithms called Deep Learning (DL) that show promise in recent research on 3-D point cloud reconstruction and interpolation. Our research details the efficacy of applying these DL techniques to reconstruct accurate below-canopy point clouds from space-borne and aerial remote sensing through learned patterns of tree species fractal symmetry properties and the supplementation of locally sourced bio-inventory metrics. From our dataset, consisting of tree point clouds obtained from TLS, we deconstructed the point clouds of each tree into those that would be obtained through ALS and satellite photogrammetry of varying resolutions. We fed this ALS/satellite point cloud dataset, along with the simulated local bio-inventory metrics, into the DL point cloud reconstruction architectures to generate the full 3-D tree point clouds (the truth values are denoted by the full TLS tree point clouds containing the below-canopy information). Point cloud reconstruction accuracy was validated both through the measurement of error from the original TLS point clouds as well as the error of extraction of key structural metrics, such as crown base height, diameter above root crown, and leaf/wood volume. The results of this research additionally demonstrate the supplemental performance gain of using minimum locally sourced bio-inventory metric information as an input in ML systems to reach specified accuracy thresholds of tree point cloud reconstruction. This research provides insight into methods for the rapid, cost-effective, and accurate construction of below-canopy tree 3-D point clouds, as well as the supported potential of ML and DL to learn complex, unmodeled patterns of fractal tree growth symmetry.

Keywords: deep learning, machine learning, satellite, photogrammetry, aerial laser scanning, terrestrial laser scanning, point cloud, fractal symmetry

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Authors: Claudio Burguez, María Castelló, Mikaela Pisani, Marcos Umpiérrez

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BIOFEEDBACK exhibition offers a unique experience for each visitor, combining art, neuroscience, and technology in an interactive way. Using a headband that captures the bioelectric activity of the brain, the visitors are able to generate sound and images in a sequence loop, making them an integral part of the artwork. Through this interactive exhibit, visitors gain a deeper appreciation of the beauty and complexity of the brain. As a special takeaway, visitors will receive an NFT as a present, allowing them to continue their engagement with the exhibition beyond the physical space. We used the EEG Biofeedback technique following a closed-loop neuroscience approach, transforming EEG data captured by a Muse S headband in real-time into audiovisual stimulation. PureData is used for sound generation and Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) for image generation. Thirty participants have experienced the exhibition. For some individuals, it was easier to focus than others. Participants who said they could focus during the exhibit stated that at one point, they felt that they could control the sound, while images were more abstract, and they did not feel that they were able to control them.

Keywords: art, audiovisual, biofeedback, EEG, NFT, neuroscience, technology

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Authors: Maryam Alimardani, Kazuo Hiraki

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This study presents a framework for development of a new generation of therapy robots that can interact with users by monitoring their physiological and mental states. Here, we focused on one of the controversial methods of therapy, hypnotherapy. Hypnosis has shown to be useful in treatment of many clinical conditions. But, even for healthy people, it can be used as an effective technique for relaxation or enhancement of memory and concentration. Our aim is to develop a robot that collects information about user’s mental and physical states using electroencephalogram (EEG) and electromyography (EMG) signals and performs costeffective hypnosis at the comfort of user’s house. The presented framework consists of three main steps: (1) Find the EEG-correlates of mind state before, during, and after hypnosis and establish a cognitive model for state changes, (2) Develop a system that can track the changes in EEG and EMG activities in real time and determines if the user is ready for suggestion, and (3) Implement our system in a humanoid robot that will talk and conduct hypnosis on users based on their mental states. This paper presents a pilot study in regard to the first stage, detection of EEG and EMG features during hypnosis.

Keywords: hypnosis, EEG, robotherapy, brain-computer interface (BCI)

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Authors: Siddharth Vashisth, Varun Mathur

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This review provides an overview of the impact that implementation of various Knowledge Management (KM) strategies has had on the growth of a department in a Public Sector Company in India. In a regulated utility controlled by the government, the growth of an organization such as Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) had depended largely on the efficiencies of the systems and its people. However, subsequent to the de-regularization & to the entry of the private competition, the need for a ‘systematic templating’ of knowledge was recognized. This necessitated the introduction of Knowledge Management Centre (KMC). Projects & Pipelines Department (P&P) of HPCL introduced KMC that contributed significantly towards KM by adopting various strategies such as standardization, leveraging information system, competency enhancement, and improvements & innovations. These strategies gave both tangible as well as intangible benefits towards KM. Knowledge, technology & people are the three pillars that need to be catered for effective knowledge management in any organization. In HPCL, the initiative of KMC has served as an intermediary between these three major pillars as each activity of the strategy was centered on them and contributed significantly to their growth and up-gradation, ensuring overall growth of KM in the department.

Keywords: knowledge, knowledge management, public sector organization, standardization, technology, people, skill, information system, innovation, competency, impact

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Authors: Suresh Prasad Sharma, Som Nath Saha

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This paper deals with the effect of Global Solar Radiation (GSR) on the performance of double flow solar air heater having corrugated plate as an absorber. An analytical model of a double flow solar air heater has been presented, and a computer program in C++ language has been developed to calculate the outlet air temperature, heat gain, pressure drop for estimating the thermal and thermohydraulic efficiencies. The performance of double flow corrugated absorber is compared with double flow flat plate and conventional solar air heaters. It is found that the double flow arrangement effectively increases the air temperature rise and efficiencies in comparison to a conventional collector. However, corrugated absorber is more superior to that of flat plate double flow solar air heater. The results indicate that increasing the solar radiation leads to achieve higher air temperature rise and efficiencies.

Keywords: corrugated absorber, double flow, flat plate, solar air heater

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Authors: Davoud Masoumi, Maryam Bourbour

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By characterizing children’s actions in the scaffolding process, which is often undermined and ignored in the studies reviewed, this study aimed to examine children’s different (re)actions in relation to the teachers’ actions in a context where digital technologies are used. Over five months, 22 children aged 4-6 with five preschool teachers were video observed. The study brought in rich details of the children’s actions in relation to the teacher’s actions in the scaffolding process. The findings of the study reveal thirteen (re)actions, including Giving short response; Explaining; Participating in the activities; Examining; Smiling and laughing; Pointing and showing; Working together; Challenging each other; Problem-solving skills; Developing vocabulary; Choosing the activity; Expressing of the emotions; and Identifying the similarities and differences. Our findings expanded and deepened the understanding of the scaffolding process, which can contribute to the notion of scaffolding and help us to gain further understanding about scaffolding of children’s learning. Characterizing the children’s (re)action in relation to teacher’s scaffolding actions further can contribute to ongoing discussions about how teachers can scaffold children’s learning using digital technologies in the learning process.

Keywords: children’ (re)actions, scaffolding process, technologies, preschools

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Authors: Pierobon Enrico, Missiaggia Marta, Castelluzzo Michele, Tommasino Francesco, Ricci Leonardo, Scifoni Emanuele, Vincezo Monaco, Boscardin Maurizio, La Tessa Chiara

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Clinical outcomes collected over the past three decades have suggested that ion therapy has the potential to be a treatment modality superior to conventional radiation for several types of cancer, including recurrences, as well as for other diseases. Although the results have been encouraging, numerous treatment uncertainties remain a major obstacle to the full exploitation of particle radiotherapy. To overcome therapy uncertainties optimizing treatment outcome, the best possible radiation quality description is of paramount importance linking radiation physical dose to biological effects. Microdosimetry was developed as a tool to improve the description of radiation quality. By recording the energy deposition at the micrometric scale (the typical size of a cell nucleus), this approach takes into account the non-deterministic nature of atomic and nuclear processes and creates a direct link between the dose deposited by radiation and the biological effect induced. Microdosimeters measure the spectrum of lineal energy y, defined as the energy deposition in the detector divided by most probable track length travelled by radiation. The latter is provided by the so-called “Mean Chord Length” (MCL) approximation, and it is related to the detector geometry. To improve the characterization of the radiation field quality, we define a new quantity replacing the MCL with the actual particle track length inside the microdosimeter. In order to measure this new quantity, we propose a two-stage detector consisting of a commercial Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counter (TEPC) and 4 layers of Low Gain Avalanche Detectors (LGADs) strips. The TEPC detector records the energy deposition in a region equivalent to 2 um of tissue, while the LGADs are very suitable for particle tracking because of the thickness thinnable down to tens of micrometers and fast response to ionizing radiation. The concept of HDM has been investigated and validated with Monte Carlo simulations. Currently, a dedicated readout is under development. This two stages detector will require two different systems to join complementary information for each event: energy deposition in the TEPC and respective track length recorded by LGADs tracker. This challenge is being addressed by implementing SoC (System on Chip) technology, relying on Field Programmable Gated Arrays (FPGAs) based on the Zynq architecture. TEPC readout consists of three different signal amplification legs and is carried out thanks to 3 ADCs mounted on a FPGA board. LGADs activated strip signal is processed thanks to dedicated chips, and finally, the activated strip is stored relying again on FPGA-based solutions. In this work, we will provide a detailed description of HDM geometry and the SoC solutions that we are implementing for the readout.

Keywords: particle tracking, ion therapy, low gain avalanche diode, tissue equivalent proportional counter, microdosimetry

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Authors: Mouheb Mehdoui, Amel Fraisse, Mounir Zrigui

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This paper explores the potential of short texts through semantic enrichment and disambiguation techniques. By employing context fusion, we aim to enhance the comprehension and utility of concise textual information. The methodologies utilized are grounded in recent advancements in natural language processing, which allow for a deeper understanding of semantics within limited text formats. Specifically, topic classification is employed to understand the context of the sentence and assess the relevance of added expressions. Additionally, word sense disambiguation is used to clarify unclear words, replacing them with more precise terms. The implications of this research extend to various applications, including information retrieval and knowledge representation. Ultimately, this work highlights the importance of refining short text processing techniques to unlock their full potential in real-world applications.

Keywords: information traffic, text summarization, word-sense disambiguation, semantic enrichment, ambiguity resolution, short text enhancement, information retrieval, contextual understanding, natural language processing, ambiguity

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Authors: Eniye Tebekaemi, Martin Zhao

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The dichotomy between the skills set of newly minted college graduates and the skills required by cybersecurity employers is on the rise. Colleges are struggling to cope with the rapid pace of technology evolution using outdated tools and practices. Industries are getting frustrated due to the need to retrain fresh college graduates on skills they should have acquired. There is a dire need for academic institutions to develop new tools and systems to deliver cybersecurity education to meet the ever-evolving technology demands of the industry. The Cyber-Softbook project’s goal is to bridge the tech industry and tech education gap by providing educators a framework to collaboratively design, manage, and deliver cybersecurity academic courses that meet the needs of the tech industry. The Cyber-Softbook framework, when developed, will provide a platform for academic institutions and tech industries to collaborate on tech education and for students to learn about cybersecurity with all the resources they need to understand concepts and gain valuable skills available on a single platform.

Keywords: cybersecurity, education, skills, labs, curriculum

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Authors: David Chapola Nggada

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This is a survey designed to find out the impact of the ongoing insurgency in north eastern Nigeria on educational attainment. It is a mixture of both qualitative and quantitative research work on a sample size of 71 secondary school students currently displaced from Baga Biu and Monguno areas of Borno State, now residing as internally displaced persons(IDPs) in Gombe and Yola IDP camps. This was done through both semi structured interview and questionnaire administration. Statistical methods used include percentage and cross tables to gain specific insight into different dimensions of what this implies. Two major aspects of the impact covered were impact on individual student and impact on societal development. These two dimensions were measured against national development variables and analyzed against reviewed literature and findings across the globe. A combination of theories from different fields led to a deeper and better insight. The results confirm a significant relationship between educational attainment and the development of the north east region and Nigeria as a whole. Recommendations were made on ways of reintegrating this group back to the educational system.

Keywords: education, insurgency, national development, threat

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Authors: Sunil Dutta

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Synchronization is defined as ‘the sequencing and re-sequencing of all relative and absolute activities in time and space and continuous alignment of those actions with purposeful objective in a complex and dynamic atmosphere. In a complex and dynamic production / maintenance setup, no single group can work in isolation for long. In addition, many activities in projects take place simultaneously at the same time. Work of every section / group is interwoven with work of others. The various activities / interactions which take place in production / overhaul workshops are interlinked because of physical requirements (information, material, workforces, equipment, and space) and dependencies. The activity sequencing is determined by physical dependencies of various department / sections / units (e.g., inventory availability must be ensured before stripping and disassembling of equipment), whereas resource dependencies do not. Theory of constraint facilitates identification, analyses and exploitation of the constraint in methodical manner. These constraints (equipment, manpower, policies etc.) prevent the department / sections / units from getting optimum exploitation of available resources. The significance of theory of constraints for achieving synchronization at overhaul workshop is illustrated in this paper.

Keywords: synchronization, overhaul, throughput, obsolescence, uncertainty

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Authors: Chao Hu, Xinwen Liao, Qing-Hua Qin, Gang Wang

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The hierarchical carbon nanotube (CNT)/carbon fiber (CF)/high density polyethylene (HDPE) was fabricated via compound extrusion and injection molding, in which to author’s best knowledge CNT was employed as a nano-coatings on the surface of CF for the first time by spray coating technique. The CNT coatings relative to CF was set at 1 wt% and the CF content relative to the composites varied from 0 to 25 wt% to study the influence of CNT coatings and CF contents on the mechanical, thermal and morphological performance of this hierarchical composites. The results showed that with the rise of CF contents, the mechanical properties, including the tensile properties, flexural properties, and hardness of CNT/CF/HDPE composites, were effectively improved. Furthermore, the CNT-coated composites showed overall higher mechanical performance than the uncoated counterparts. It can be ascribed to the enhancement of interfacial bonding between the CF and HDPE via the incorporation of CNT, which was demonstrated by the scanning electron microscopy observation. Meanwhile, the differential scanning calorimetry data indicated that by the introduction of CNT and CF, the crystallization temperature and crystallinity of HDPE were affected while the melting temperature did not have an obvious alteration.

Keywords: carbon fibers, carbon nanotubes, extrusion, high density polyethylene

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Authors: Fahad Al-Mufadi, F. Djavanroodi

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Ultrafine grained (UFG) and nanostructured (NS) materials have experienced a rapid development during the last decade and made profound impact on every field of materials science and engineering. The present work has been undertaken to develop ultra-fine grained pure copper by severe plastic deformation method and to examine the impact property by different characterizing tools. For this aim, equal channel angular pressing die with the channel angle, outer corner angle and channel diameter of 90°, 17° and 20 mm had been designed and manufactured. Commercial pure copper billets were ECAPed up to four passes by route BC at the ambient temperature. The results indicated that there is a great improvement at the hardness measurement, yield strength and ultimate tensile strength after ECAP process. It is found that the magnitudes of HV reach 136HV from 52HV after the final pass. Also, about 285% and 125% enhancement at the YS and UTS values have been obtained after the fourth pass as compared to the as-received conditions, respectively. On the other hand, the elongation to failure and impact energy have been reduced by imposing ECAP process and pass numbers. It is needed to say that about 56% reduction in the impact energy have been attained for the samples as contrasted to annealed specimens.

Keywords: SPD, ECAP, pure cu, impact property

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Authors: Malte Brettel, David Bendig, Michael Keller, Marius Rosenberg

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What are the core competences necessary in order to sustain manufacturing in high-wage countries? Aspiring countries all over the world gain market share in manufacturing and rapidly close the productivity and quality gap that has until now protected some parts of the industry in Europe and the United States from dislocation. However, causal production planning and manufacturing, the basis for productivity and quality, is challenged by the ever-greater need for flexibility and customized products in an uncertain business environment. This article uses a case-study-based approach to assess how production managers in high-wage countries can apply decision-making principals from successful entrepreneurs. 'Effectuation' instead of causal decision making can be applied to handle uncertainty of mass customization, to seek the right partners in alliances and to advance towards virtual production. The findings help managers to use their resources more efficiently and contribute to bridge the gap between production research and entrepreneurship.

Keywords: case studies, decision-making behavior, effectuation, production planning

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Authors: Akram Hashemi

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This study provided an empirical evidence for learners of elementary level of language proficiency to investigate the potential role of contextualization in vocabulary learning. Prior to the main study, pilot study was performed to determine the reliability and validity of the researcher-made pretest and posttest. After manifesting the homogeneity of the participants, the participants (n = 90) were randomly assigned into three equal groups, i.e., two experimental groups and a control group. They were pretested by a vocabulary test, in order to test participants' pre-knowledge of vocabulary. Then, vocabulary instruction was provided through three methods of visual instruction, the use of context and the use of conventional techniques. At the end of the study, all participants took the same posttest in order to assess their vocabulary gain. The results of independent sample t-test indicated that there is a significant difference between learning vocabulary visually and learning vocabulary contextually. The results of paired sample t-test showed that different teaching strategies have significantly different impacts on learners’ vocabulary gains. Also, the contextual strategy was significantly more effective than visual strategy in improving students’ performance in vocabulary test.

Keywords: vocabulary instruction, explicit instruction, implicit instruction, strategy

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Authors: Murad Almadani, Khalil Abu-Hantash, Xinyu Wang, Herbert Jelinek, Kinda Khalaf

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Gait analysis is used by healthcare professionals as a tool to gain a better understanding of the movement impairment and track progress. In most circumstances, monitoring patients in their real-life environments with low-cost equipment such as cameras and wearable sensors is more important. Inertial sensors, on the other hand, cannot provide enough information on angular dynamics. This research offers a method for tracking 2D joint coordinates using cutting-edge vision algorithms and a single RGB camera. We provide an end-to-end comprehensive deep learning pipeline for marker-less gait parameter estimation, which, to our knowledge, has never been done before. To make our pipeline function in real-time for real-world applications, we leverage the AlphaPose human posture prediction model and a deep learning transformer. We tested our approach on the well-known GPJATK dataset, which produces promising results.

Keywords: gait analysis, human pose estimation, deep learning, real time gait estimation, AlphaPose, transformer

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Authors: E. Livya, G. Anitha, P. Valli

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The main objective of aircraft aerodynamics is to enhance the aerodynamic characteristics and maneuverability of the aircraft. This enhancement includes the reduction in drag and stall phenomenon. The airfoil which contains dimples will have comparatively less drag than the plain airfoil. Introducing dimples on the aircraft wing will create turbulence by creating vortices which delays the boundary layer separation resulting in decrease of pressure drag and also increase in the angle of stall. In addition, wake reduction leads to reduction in acoustic emission. The overall objective of this paper is to improve the aircraft maneuverability by delaying the flow separation point at stall and thereby reducing the drag by applying the dimple effect over the aircraft wing. This project includes both computational and experimental analysis of dimple effect on aircraft wing, using NACA 0018 airfoil. Dimple shapes of Semi-sphere, hexagon, cylinder, square are selected for the analysis; airfoil is tested under the inlet velocity of 30m/s at different angle of attack (5˚, 10˚, 15˚, 20˚, and 25˚). This analysis favours the dimple effect by increasing L/D ratio and thereby providing the maximum aerodynamic efficiency, which provides the enhanced performance for the aircraft.

Keywords: airfoil, dimple effect, turbulence, boundary layer separation

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Authors: Thandie Veronicah Sima, Moatlhodi Wiseman Letshwenyo

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Discharge of wastewater is one of the major sources of phosphorus entering streams, lakes and other water bodies causing undesired environmental problem such as eutrophication. This condition not only puts the ecosystem at risk but also causes severe economic damages. Stringent laws have been developed globally by different bodies to control the level of phosphorus concentrations into receiving environments. In order to satisfy the constraints, a high degree of tertiary treatment or at least a significant reduction of phosphorus concentration is obligatory. This comprehensive review summarizes phosphorus removal technologies, from the most commonly used conventional technologies such as chemical precipitation through metal addition, membrane filtration, reverse osmosis and enhanced biological phosphorus removal using activated sludge system to passive systems such as constructed wetlands and filtration systems. Trends, perspectives and scientific procedures conducted by different researchers have been presented. This review critically evaluates the advantages and limitations behind each of the technologies. Enhancement of passive systems using reactive media such as industrial wastes to provide additional uptake through adsorption or precipitation is also discussed in this article.

Keywords: adsorption, chemical precipitation, enhanced biological phosphorus removal, phosphorus removal

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Authors: Andre M. Carvalho, Pedro Sebastiao

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This article is based on a dissertation that intends to analyze and make a model, intelligently, algorithms based on stochastic processes of a gamification application applied to marketing. Gamification is used in our daily lives to engage us to perform certain actions in order to achieve goals and gain rewards. This strategy is an increasingly adopted way to encourage and retain customers through game elements. The application of gamification aims to encourage children between 6 and 10 years of age to have healthy habits and the purpose of serving as a model for use in marketing. This application was developed in unity; we implemented intelligent algorithms based on stochastic processes, web services to respond to all requests of the application, a back-office website to manage the application and the database. The behavioral analysis of the use of game elements and stochastic processes in children’s motivation was done. The application of algorithms based on stochastic processes in-game elements is very important to promote cooperation and to ensure fair and friendly competition between users which consequently stimulates the user’s interest and their involvement in the application and organization.

Keywords: engage, games, gamification, randomness, stochastic processes

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Authors: M. Deyab, A. Al-Sabagh, S. Keera

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The effects of flow velocity, sand concentration, sand size and temperature on erosion-corrosion of carbon steel in oil sands slurry were studied by electrochemical polarization measurements. It was found that the anodic excursion spans of carbon steel in oil sands slurry are characterized by the occurrence of a well-defined anodic peak, followed by a passive region. The data reveal that increasing flow velocity, sand concentration and temperature enhances the anodic peak current density (jAP) and shifts pitting potential (Epit) towards more negative values. The variation of sand particle size does not have apparent effect on polarization behavior of carbon steel. The ratios of the erosion rate to corrosion rate (E/C) were calculated and discussed. The ratio of erosion to corrosion rates E/C increased with increasing the flow velocity, sand concentration, sand size and temperature indicating that an increasing slurry flow velocity, sand concentration, sand size and temperature resulted in an enhancement of the erosion effect.

Keywords: erosion-corrosion, steel, oil sands slurry, polarization

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Authors: Zhenhua Wei, Gabriel Falzone, Bu Wang, Laurent Pilon, Gaurav Sant

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The production of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) is a CO₂ intensive process. Specifically, cement clinkering reactions require not only substantial energy in the form of heat, but also result in the release of CO₂, from limestone decarbonation and the combustion of fuel. To overcome this CO₂ intensive process, clinkering-free cementation is demonstrated by the carbonation of fly ash; i.e., a by-product of coal combustion. It is shown that in moist environments and at sub-boiling temperatures, calcium-rich fly ashes readily react with gas-phase CO₂ to provide cementation. After seven days of CO₂ exposure at 75°C, such formulations achieve a compressive strength on the order of 35 MPa and take-up 9% CO₂ (by mass of the solid). On the other hand, calcium-deficient fly ashes, due to their lack of alkalinity (i.e., abundance of mobile Ca or Mg), show little if any potential for CO₂ uptake and strength gain. The role of the CO₂ concentration and processing temperature are discussed and linked to the progress of reactions, and the development of microstructure. The outcomes demonstrate a means for enabling clinkering-free cementation while enabling beneficial utilization of CO₂ and fly ash; i.e., two abundant but underutilized industrial by-products.

Keywords: fly ash, carbonation, concrete, strength

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Authors: Amal Khalifa, Nicolas Vana Santos

Abstract:

Steganography has been known for centuries as an efficient approach for covert communication. Due to its popularity and ease of access, image steganography has attracted researchers to find secure techniques for hiding information within an innocent looking cover image. In this research, we propose a novel deep-learning approach to digital image steganography. The proposed method, DeepWaveletFusion, uses convolutional neural networks (CNN) to hide a secret image into a cover image of the same size. Two CNNs are trained back-to-back to merge the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) of both colored images and eventually be able to blindly extract the hidden image. Based on two different image similarity metrics, a weighted gain function is used to guide the learning process and maximize the quality of the retrieved secret image and yet maintaining acceptable imperceptibility. Experimental results verified the high recoverability of DeepWaveletFusion which outperformed similar deep-learning-based methods.

Keywords: deep learning, steganography, image, discrete wavelet transform, fusion

Procedia PDF Downloads 90

Authors: Danielle Sandler dos Passos, Helder Coelho, Flávia Mori Sarti

Abstract:

Analysing the world banking sector, we realize that traditional risk measurement methodologies no longer reflect the actual scenario with uncertainty and leave out events that can change the dynamics of markets. Considering this, regulators and financial institutions began to search more realistic models. The aim is to include external influences and interdependencies between agents, to describe and measure the operationalization of these complex systems and their risks in a more coherent and credible way. Within this context, X-Events are more frequent than assumed and, with uncertainties and constant changes, the concept of antifragility starts to gain great prominence in comparison to others methodologies of risk management. It is very useful to analyse whether a system succumbs (fragile), resists (robust) or gets benefits (antifragile) from disorder and stress. Thus, this work proposes the creation of the Banking Antifragility Index (BAI), which is based on the calculation of a triangular fuzzy number – to "quantify" qualitative criteria linked to antifragility.

Keywords: adaptive complex systems, X-Events, risk management, antifragility, banking antifragility index, triangular fuzzy number

Procedia PDF Downloads 183

Authors: Malmi Amadoru, Chandana Gamage

Abstract:

Sri Lanka is emerging as a global IT-BPO hub topping up among the 20 global outsourcing destinations. When setting up a new venture in Sri Lanka, talent sourcing plays one of the key functions due to the rapid growth of workforce. Getting competent people with right skills for right positions leads organizations achieving its vision, mission and objectives. It also drives in earning competitive advantage over industry competitors. Thus it is crucial to scan and recruit the best employees to an organization. However there is no published information available on recruitment methods utilized in Sri Lankan software industry, as a study of this nature had not being conducted previously in Sri Lanka. The main objective of this study was to explore various talent sourcing practices exploited in Sri Lankan software industry. Also this study analyses the extent which Sri Lanka has adopted different recruitment strategies utilized in worldwide and its deviations. The research outcome is beneficial for HR professionals to identify the current trends in recruitment practices. Moreover investors who are interested in IT-BPO engagements can gain a thorough knowledge about talent sourcing techniques in Sri Lankan software industry. Finally, this research clues trending areas which can be further investigated in future.

Keywords: IT-BPO, recruitment, Sri Lanka, software industry, talent

Procedia PDF Downloads 487